The Magnificent Seven Of Success

1. A Positive Mental Attitude (PMA)
While PMA is number one among the seven magnificent of success, strictly speaking you can be successful with a negative mental attitude also. Just look around you or, if need be, catch the nooze on teevee. See the “success” of the merchants of death, hate and violence and of those who prey on the fallen and weak. Success, after all, depends on how you define it. However, a PMA is absolutely required if you want success that’s enduring, satisfying to you, the people around you and the world at large. A definition of PMA, if needed, is easily be found among the large number of books and articles out there. The importance about PMA is it  precedes success. If you wait to have success first and then acquire a PMA, you risk to be waiting forever, regardless of success happening or not. Also, just as success doesn’t bring about PMA, PMA by and of itself won’t bring about success. Success requires – in addition to PMA – positive doing, too. With PMA alone, without positive doing you’d be hoping to climb a ladder that has no rungs.

2. Know What (Only) You Know
Know what success tastes, looks and feels like – to you. To be successful by other peoples’ criteria will only cause you to stress and be unhappy. If you’re not sure about yourself, begin the process of getting to know yourself better by looking into a mirror and asking who you are. The only person permitted to answer is you. Then move on to ask yourself what success is in each of your main dimensions: physical/health, family, career, financial, adventure, variety, love, connection, relationships, growth, contribution – whatever may apply to you. To help with this step, a method often used is called Wheel of Life. If you need one, just google it. Many examples available on the internet for free. In knowing what only you know, remember the reason most people fail to get what they want, simply put, is they don’t know what they want. Don’t let it happen to you. Have faith. It is never too early or too late to be, or to become, who you might have been.

3. Focus On Outcomes – Always
Make it a habit of separating means from ends. Then always focus on the ends. What’s the difference and why is it important? Means are about the What, How and When. Means are mostly about what you’re doing. By contrast, Ends are about the Why. Ends are about how you will feel “the morning after,” after the doing is done. If you focus not only on what you are doing, but also on how you are feeling,  you massively increase the chances of achieving your desired outcome.  To illustrate the point: I volunteer with an organization that delivers meals to the homes of people who cannot prepare their own. The other day the distribution center, also staffed by volunteers, was late in preparing the packages. One volunteer among us got angry at the delay. I doubt her reason to volunteer was to get angry. The reason for volunteering is to make yourself and others feel good – else, why bother?! That even a volunteer can get easily distracted from the most basic purpose of volunteering, shows the importance of always keeping in mind how you are feeling, too.

4. Learn From Every Experience
Make learning – from every experience, good and bad – a lifelong habit. The reason most people stop learning is for fear of looking ridiculous in the eyes of others. As adults, when we grab a full glass of water with nonchalance, absent-minded, automatically, we tend to forget we all learned to drink by means of two-handed, fool-proof sippy cups (or equivalent). It’s a good thing we’re naturally adopting a learning attitude during the phase of our lives when we must learn everything. It’s an equally good thing to maintain a learning attitude in adulthood later on in life, too. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well. Adults who remember, do well.

5. Build On Your Strengths
Much of society is about making you believe there’s something missing in your life. It’s easier to sell you something when you believe you must have it. It doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it’s just the way it is. The point, building on your strengths is a challenge in a world where you’re constantly reminded of your weaknesses. It’s a myth to believe that as you grow, your personality changes. The opposite is true. As you grow, if you grow, you become more of who you are intended to be. To get more meaning, passion and success into your life, build on what invigorates you (indicator of your strengths), and stay away from what drains you (indicator of your weaknesses).

6. Get Outside Of Your Comfort Zone
If your goal now is to be comfortable, chances are you’ll end up very uncomfortable. By contrast, if your goal now is to be successful, chances are you’ll end up very comfortable. To be successful required preparedness to do whatever it takes – inside and outside of your comfort zone. You become successful by adopting the habit of doing the things unsuccessful people have the habit of avoid doing. You may not always like the things that need doing yourself, yet success demands getting on and doing them, regardless of how you feel. The movie Slumdog Millionaire contains a scene where, to reach his goal, a boy must jump into and get through, literally, a pile of shit. So he does. I’m not suggesting you try it at home, but if it’s success you want, know clearly what success means, to you, and be prepared for … whatever it takes.

7. Jump
Success requires the willingness to jump. Not just the ability, the willingness. Once you have your mind made up and your vision is clear, many decisions are already made. At this point there must be no more double-guessing yourself, no room for hesitation. There’s risk in letting go. Without it there’s no success. Between the fear of failing and the promise of success, fear is often the stronger of the two. In these situations, the only safety consists in deliberately jumping. Seven is not some magical number that guarantees success. However, it’s a manageable number – a good number to get started. Wishing you fun and success on the journey!

Article first published in Khabar Magazine, July 2009

Tagged as: critical success factors, Positive Mental Attitude, success, success secrets